In collaboration with scientists, research institutes, and DB Schenker’s logistics experts, the authors and editors of logistik aktuell continuously research and report on new and exciting topics from the world of logistics – brought to you on our blog.

We consider it important to know how relevant our selection of topics and the way we present them are to our readers. Hence, we would like to invite you to take part in this year’s reader survey. Our questions to you are: What do you like about our blog? What can we do better? Above all, we would like to know what topics are particularly relevant to you. The results of this survey will allow us to further optimize our content for our readers.

Tell us what you think!

Generally speaking, what is your overall impression of logistik aktuell?

Very good

Good

Fair

Poor

Some people like it short and to the point, while others like to read long and detailed articles. What about you? Do you find the blog articles on logistik aktuell…

rather too short

just right

rather too long

About the look: How would you rate logistik aktuell’s blog design?

Very good

Good

Fair

Poor

What area of logistics interests you the most?

Land transport

Sea freight

Air freight

Warehousing / contract logistics

Special transports

Supply Chain Management

Logistics is developing very fast. Which technical and economic trends are you most interested in?

Workplace logistics

E-commerce

Digitization / logistics 4.0

Urbanization

Mobility concepts (Platooning, Autonomous Driving,...)

How close to DB Schenker would you like our articles to be? I prefer…

Research reports / studies

Industry news

DB Schenker corporate news

DB Schenker Case studies / best practices

Topics can be presented in different ways. Which kind do you prefer?

Expert interviews

Descriptive / explanatory articles

Both the same

How did you find out about our blog?

Personal recommendation (e.g., from friends or colleagues)

Social media

Online search

Contacts at DB Schenker (personal, business card, email signature)

Do you read our logistics blog on a tablet, PC, or smartphone?

Tablet

Smartphone

PC / laptop

How often do you read blog articles on logistik aktuell?

Several times a week

Once a week

At least once a month

Every two months

Once or twice a year

Your general reading habits: What time of day do you prefer to read blogs and online magazines?

logistik-aktuell.com

‘Smart City’ is today’s buzzword and trend in urban development. How do Europeans see their cities of the future? What does a smart city in Europe have to do from a business perspective? How should the digitization of European cities go on? Juniper and YouGov interviewed 12,000 people in six European countries.

First they asked what the participants understand and what they expect from a smart city. When Europeans think of smart cities, they seem to think, above all, of smart city administration. 51 percent consider improved digital access to public information and services as the key benefit of a smart city.

42 percent expect a smart community to improve public safety and improve emergency services. 39 percent would also like digitization of cities to promote environmental protection.

The study was deliberately carried out not only in large cities, but was extended to rural areas as well. The term “smart community” explicitly includes municipalities of all sizes. Especially in rural areas, digitization offers many options for optimizing everyday public life, be it in the city administration or in public transportation.

What are the set screws?

Singapore and Hangzhou: Asian Smart Cities | logistik aktuell

logistik-aktuell.com

However, the questionnaire was not just about visualizing the digital future of one’s own place of residence. Another question was how Europeans imagine the process there. What are the challenges and key factors to building a working smart community? By far the most important issue (47 percent), is, according to Europeans, interoperability, ie the possibility that different systems can work together and thus be compatible. This is followed by the concern about cyber security with 36 percent. Surprisingly, IoT (25 percent) or AI (20 percent) was considered less important in building a smart community.

Digital City Darmstadt

While the questioning of Juniper still queried the expectations and requirements of future cities, there are many projects today that are already in the process of making European municipalities smarter.

Big cities such as Hamburg and Berlin have been proclaiming smart cities for years, but sometimes it is hard to distinguish their projects from clever city marketing.

Yet it does not always have to be the big citiy: Darmstadt won a competition sponsored by Bitkom (Association of the ITC Industry) and the Association of Towns and Municipalities. Darmstadt prevailed in the final round against its competitors Heidelberg, Kaiserslautern, Paderborn and Wolfsburg. Since then, the city of southern Hesse has officially been called “digital city”. Since the beginning of 2018, many millions of state and private funding have been used to build a digital urban infrastructure. Darmstadt is supposed to become a digital model city for Germany and even Europe.

A lot has already happened in Darmstadt: the city is equipped with a LoRaWAN network, the basic prerequisite for an IoT. Citizen participation has its own digital participation platform. Here, for example, there is the defect detection app “DA ist was!” (there is something), through which citizens can report visible deficiencies in Darmstadt and can also track the processing status, such as soiled playgrounds, full trashcans, etc. Many other projects are also in the education and health sector in planning and implementation. For a long time, Darmstadt has been known to be a science and high-tech center throughout Europe. For 20 years it is officially “Science City”, now it can also call itself “digital city”.

Qatar, Oman and a lot of oil and sand. This cliché of the Arabian Gulf and its neighbors is just as wrong as the Fata Morgana on a thirsty camel ride through the desert. Because the region has more to offer than caravans and conveyors. Much more. The world’s trade in goods is flourishing and people are shopping more than ever.

Customs Union like the EU

An important role is played by the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). It includes Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Emirates and Oman. The six member states, with a total population of 40,000,000, pursue close economic and social cooperation. Since 2003, a customs union has facilitated the exchange. The whole thing is reminiscent of the European Union. A little bit. In any case, we are dealing here with an alliance that is also interesting for logisticians. The GCC is the EU’s most important trading partner in the Arab world.

Gaurav Kapoor, Director Key Account Management

„Our warehouses on the Gulf bring handbags und cosmetics to shopping malls as well as furniture and the latest fashion.“

In the Arab states, oil loses its dominance. Other industries are booming. Where a lot of money is made, there is a lot to spend. That makes the region interesting for the consumer goods industry. Wholesale and retail are flourishing. For example, the Landmark Group in Dubai. Launched in 1973 with a single store in Bahrain, Landmark now has 2,300 stores and has become one of the largest retail and hotel groups in the Middle East, Africa and India.

Shampoo for the Sphinx - DB Schenker in East Africa | logistik aktuell

The economy in East Africa draws attention. Many industries are booming, not least because of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). DB Schenker is right there.

logistik-aktuell.com

Cinema boom in Saudi Arabia

Billions of franchise operators have also established themselves on the Gulf. Headquartered in Kuwait, Alshaya Group’s portfolio includes 90 world-renowned brands that everyone in retail, hospitality, hotel and leisure knows: Starbucks, H & M and The Body Shop. According to the company, Hampton by Hilton will soon be added. It is an open industry secret that Alshaya opens a shop anywhere in the world every week. Or several more. Focal points are – in addition to the Middle East – North America, Russia, Turkey and Europe. Al-Futtaim, to give a final example, has announced that it will open a number of cinemas together with PVR Limited in Saudi Arabia. We are talking about “600 screens”.

Trips to the shopping centers

What the wealthy clientele in the glitz-and-glamour malls on the Gulf are buying comes from Europe, the US and eastern Asia. “Our warehouses on the Gulf bring handbags and cosmetics to shopping malls as well as furniture and the latest fashion,” says DB Schenker’s regional head of key account management, Gaurav Kapoor. He has been with the company in Dubai for 5 years and knows the assortments of his customers – from the logistics center and window shopping. The DB Schenker team manages the logistics for high-quality articles from all over the world. Vases, candles, pillows and other decorative items – everything is included.

Australia Logistics: Not just kangaroos! | logistik aktuell

Since 1962, DB Schenker has been represented in Australia with a local company. The most important cargo between Germany and Down Under is machinery and pharmaceutical products.

logistik-aktuell.com

If the comparison were not too worn-out, one would like to recall the 1001-night fairy tales, given 10,000-dollar shoes. The equipment of the shopping centers looks fairytale and their attraction is enormous. “People don’t go just shopping there,” explains Kapoor. “These are destinations for the whole family.

Second logistics center of DB Schenker in Dubai

DB Schenker is positioning itself and expanding its infrastructure for the further supply of retail and industry to the Gulf. The most recent proof was the groundbreaking ceremony for a second logistics center in Dubai in April 2018. The 35,000 square meters are located near the planned world’s largest airport Al Maktoum International and the Jebel Ali Port. This port has a handling capacity of 11,000,000 TEU (20-foot standard container). Hamburg handled about 20 percent less in 2017.

The new temperature-controlled logistics center in Dubai is DB Schenker’s first location worldwide with 100 percent solar energy. The opening will take place in the first quarter of 2019. And should anyone reading this article get the impression that the industrial and automotive industries do not get their fair share compared to all the consumer goods: do not worry – DB Schenker also organizes supply chains for large suppliers in this region.

About 100 articles are published annually in our blog logistik aktuell: interviews with decision-makers and experts in logistics. Case studies from air and sea freight, land transport and contract logistics, reports on technical trends and sector-relevant studies illustrate the wide range of current logistical topics and questions.

At the turn of the year, we wanted to know which topics the thousands of regular blog visitors found the most interesting and relevant. We present to you the top 5 of the most popular articles of 2018. This is a compact review of logistics in the past year. And a great opportunity to read one or the other top article again!

The Top 5 Articles on logistik aktuell

Top 1: “If you want to get on boat on time, you have to prove reliability” – Claus Freydag, Head of Ocean Freight, in an interview

Sea freight was a challenging field for many logistics experts in 2018. In particular, the seasonal capacity bottlenecks confronted those responsible in the companies and logistics service providers with complex tasks. logistik aktuell addressed the topic of sea freight in numerous articles and also in an interview with Claus Freydag. Since June 2017 he has been in charge of Ocean Freight at Schenker Deutschland AG. In an interview he talks about the disruptive potential of digitization in ocean freight. And about how the great problem of transport and handling capacities can be mastered in cooperation of customer and logistics service provider.

"If you want to get on board in time, you have to prove reliability" | logistik aktuell

Claus Freydag, Head of Ocean Freight at Schenker Germany / Switzerland, explains how customers and logisticians react to digitization and capacity bottlenecks.

logistik-aktuell.com

Top 2: Four disruptive megatrends in transport logistics

Digitization and new technology are topics that we revisit, be it in the form of interviews with experts from research or with the presentation of current studies.

In 2918, it was our article on the study “Is it all 4.0 or just hype” of the RWTH Aachen that reached special attention. This dealt with various key technologies of the so-called Industry 4.0. According to the results of the study, four trends are particularly important for logistics: 1. Decentralized organization via platforms. 2. Big Data and their analysis. 3. Autonomous driving and 4. Additive manufacturing processes.

Disruption brings opportunities and risks. This is also the case with these four key technologies that RWTH Aachen examined.

logistik-aktuell.com

Top 3: Why DB Schenker disassembles vehicles

Automotive logistics is one of the supreme disciplines of logistics. And DB Schenker is one of the important players in this demanding discipline. logistik aktuell therefore can, with case studies, provide exciting insights into logistical applications within the automotive industry. This is also the case in this successful article, which examines the difference between Semi Knocked Down (SKD) and Completely Knocked Down (CKD) in automotive production and automotive logistics. In the first case, new vehicles are partially dismantled before transport. In the second case, they are not even mounted, at least not in the country of dispatch. DB Schenker supports customers from the automotive industry in both manufacturing processes. We present two cases from Düsseldorf and Duisburg.

Why DB Schenker disassembles new vehicles | logistik aktuell

DB Schenker operates SKD and CKD at its locations. What is the difference and why is it necessary to disassemble vehicles before exporting them?

logistik-aktuell.com

Top 4: 747 freighter for the first time at Rostock-Laage Airport

Logisticians know Rostock-Laage as a small but up-and-coming cargo airport. logistik aktuell reports on a milestone in the history of this airport: For the first time, a cargo plane of the Boeing 747-400F model took off from Rostock-Laage Airport. The Güstrow branch had chartered the jumbo from Azerbaijan’s Silk Way airline and sent 50 tons of cellulose by air to Mumbai.”It was the first, but certainly not the last time, that we chartered a 747 freighter for Rostock-Laage,” says Gunnar Scholtz, head of the DB Schenker office in Güstrow.

747 cargo aircraft at Rostock-Laage Airport for the first time | logistik aktuell

For the first time, Rostock-Laage Airport handled a Boeing 747 cargo plane. The charter flight was carried out through the Güstrow office of Schenker Deutschland AG.

logistik-aktuell.com

Top 5: Teamwork: Logistical Coordination and Nordic Combined

Olympia, Formula 1 and FIFA – time and again, logistik aktuell reports up close on the highlights of international sports logistics. Background information and exclusive interviews with well-known athletes are in the focus. On the occasion of the Olympic Winter Games 2018 in Pyeongchang we were able to conduct an interview with Johannes Rydzek from the Olympic Nordic Combined Team Johannes Rydzek. With numerous insights into the transportation tasks for the ski jumping and cross-country competitions, the article ranked number 5 in the most popular articles.

In 2008, some Swedish management consultants discovered that the ideal logistics location for Santa Claus is in Kyrgyzstan. They explained the reasons for this at the time to a few specialist editors at an impromptu press conference at a mulled wine stand. It was cold. It was so cold that nobody could use their stiff fingers to make readable notes. And the only recording device to hand was accidentally gulped down with a smacking “Glog” from a cup whose contents have a name that resembles the aforementioned sound.

Since then we have heard nothing new from the logistics centre in the middle of Eurasia. Except perhaps that an innovative warehouse organization system recently went live there. It is called SantaPlus (SaP).

Santa Claus, parcel delivery specialist

“Tunnel systems for urban logistics are useless. I deliver the parcels through the chimney.”

But let’s not get side tracked. In purely mathematical terms, as the consultants learned at the time, Santa covers 5,800 kilometres per second in the hot phase of gift delivery. That’s if he bases his warehouse in Kyrgyzstan. Should he rather, let’s say, move it to Castrop-Rauxel, everything would be twice as far. Then the gifts would arrive on New Year’s Eve, which would result in the muddle of all muddles, because we would still have to fire up the rockets. But let’s leave it at that and get down to business.

What Santa Claus is struggling with

Like all logisticians, Santa Claus is increasingly struggling with the last mile of sledding. A solution that is acceptable to him is neither apparent in the firmament nor underground. Tunnel delivery systems to accelerate urban gift logistics can be found underground. But they don’t suit Santa. “I have always practiced parcel delivery through the chimney. What we do in the vertical is what the modern city logisticians now want to turn into the horizontal,” he complains. “But that won’t do any good.” In the end, everything has to go into the living room. And it’s easier to get there via the fireplace than through the cellar. And who would shovel the snow into the tunnel for his sled?

Fewer and fewer Gift Chevaliers

What also worries Santa Claus is the latent shortage of sleigh riders. As is well known, he employs subcontractors for long-distance transport so that he can concentrate on gicing the festive delivery the necessary hoho and so on. But the once coveted profession of gift chevalier has been struggling for years with a homemade image problem. The exhaust fumes from biologically fed reindeer are considered odour-damaging and the standard installation of particle filters is still a long time coming. Nobody likes to sit on the buck and certainly not behind the reindeer.

Do you think unmanned flying machines could help? The man in red waves this suggestion away. He doesn’t experiment with drones. He sees the Christkind as the superior choice because of his affinity for flying: “We stay away from air freight.”

“Logistics around 24 December: #Platooning for Christmas sledges and #packet delivery through the chimney. “

Logistics 24.0

And yet there is a solution: Sledge Platooning. 20 sledges full of presents in a row. All are connected via digital drawbars. Right at the front, a single experienced carriage driver swings the whip. Hah! This is what the future looks like! Autonomous sleds (“Autosch”) soon scurry through the silent night. The means of transport finds its own way, while Santa Claus prepares the next delivery in the back seat. It’s a good thing he doesn’t have to deal with paperwork. Centuries before digitalisation, Santa Claus had struck on something that some logisticians still struggle with today: paperless delivery. Or did a child ever have to sign off on the receipt of a teddy bear? – Merry Christmas!

Smart cities offer their inhabitants a comprehensive ecosystem of digitized processes, services and knowledge. This includes smart traffic management as well as broad coverage through public Internet or a city administration, which makes many applications and administrative matters digitally accessible to its citizens.

However, what constitutes a smart city is something that no one can definitively determine. Also, the development is far too new for that. Consequently, the ranking of smart cities is very subjective. And what is true for rankings in general is, of course: the results depend on what is being asked. Absolute is only the question. By now, there are a number of smart city rankings and their top 20 vary greatly. Depending on whether the study puts more emphasis on absolute numbers or the relative access per inhabitant; or whether only the digital infrastructure or a somewhat broader digitalization is being measured, either the Asian mega city clusters or the western metropolises tend to be in the upper ranks.

The IESE study “Cities in Motion” of the IESE Business School of the University of Navarra was issued for the fifth time in 2018 and thus has a certain amount of experience and continuity, which makes it possible to measure and evaluate the qualities of today’s Smart Cities. A total of 165 cities worldwide were evaluated in 2018 for a total of nine criteria and their characteristics. The result may be surprising: Smartest City is New York and not, as in many studies, Singapore. Singapore is ranked 6th, behind London, Paris, Tokyo and Reykjavik.

Europe looks smart

The result should certainly please Europeans, because among the top 3 are London and Paris. And among the top 20 are even eight European cities. After all, Berlin is in eleventh place.

Top 20 IESE Cities in Motion 2018

New York City

London

Paris

Tokyo

Reykjavik

Singapur

Seoul

Toronto

Hongkong

Amsterdam

Berlin

Melbourne

Kopenhagen

Chicago

Sydney

Stockholm

Los Angeles

Wellington

Wien

Washington

There are even more German cities in the places not listed here: Hamburg (31), Munich (37), Frankfurt (42), Cologne (54), Stuttgart (55) and Duisburg (91). All these are pretty good rankings compared to Shanghai (57), Tel Aviv (72) or Nice (79).

Singapore and Hangzhou: Asian Smart Cities | logistik aktuell

logistik-aktuell.com

The evaluation included a total of nine criteria, each composed of different indicators. Criteria were: technology, international contacts, urban planning, mobility and transport, environment, administration, economy, social cohesion and human capital. These nine criteria make it clear that the authors of the study take a holistic approach and not just consider the mere technological degree of digitization. Rather, they attach great importance to how the degree of digitization impacts alongside (and on) criteria such as CO2 emissions, unemployment and educational attainment. And in this respect, old Europe looks great!

Prototypes, design studies, classic cars, and legendary automobiles – this is the precious cargo managed by the DB Schenker Automotive Division at Stuttgart Airport’s Air Cargo Center. Irreplaceable treasures are often entrusted to Stuttgart automotive handpicked crews and development teams for worldwide transport. In such cases, everything has to be just right – from packaging to transport and insurance. And if automotive logistics represents the supreme level in logistics, then the transport of specialty cars is the crown jewel.

For example, when transporting the Porsche Type 64 from Hamburg via Stuttgart to the USA. Everything about this Porsche model is legendary. In 1939, only three prototypes were built for the Berlin-Rome race, which never took place due to the outbreak of the Second World War. One model crashed early on and was written off as unsalvageable. The second car survived the war, but not the test drives in May 1945 after US soldiers had discovered the car. It was disassembled and remained in parts. These parts were sold together with car no. three to Austrian racing legend Otto Mathé in the late 1940s.

Automuseum PROTOTYP in Hamburg faithfully reconstructed “Berlin-Rome car” no. two within 10 years from 2001 to 2011 on the basis of the original technical parts owned by Otto Mathé.

Automotive: It depends on the processes | logistik aktuell

Interview with Detlef Kurzbuch about automotive logistics at DB Schenker and the newly built logistics center at duisport.

logistik-aktuell.com

Precisely this model was now under Ian Bennett’s care on its next big trip via air freight to Los Angeles’ renowned Petersen Automotive Museum. Ian Bennett describes the undertaking as “… an order that demands a great deal of expertise and experience, the proper equipment and absolute dedication. A job made for us.” And these were in short the points of this very special vintage car ride:

Removal from display, preparation and transport to Laguna Seca Raceway

Return to Automuseum PROTOTYP Hamburg, Germany

What is the basis for success with fine & specialty cars?

Like all high-value models, prototypes and exhibits, a rare vintage car like the Porsche Type 64 needs first-class protection against damage and weather conditions while it is being loaded and transported. For this purpose, DB Schenker offers special hand-built individual vehicle transport containers as the safest solution available today.

These containers feature e.g. doors instead of a conventional ramp. Lockable openings at the sides enable the loading staff to easily enter and exit. A continuous perforated metal plate on the floor allows secure fastening of the wheels of any type of car, no matter what the dimensions.

Ian Bennett: “The basis for success with our premier customers in the automotive field is the right answer to all questions and ensuring constant communication 24/7 with an open mind, as Murphy’s Law always strikes.”

The great show: Porsche Type 64 in Petersen Automotive Museum

In perfect cooperation between the DB Schenker team, the owner and those responsible at the Petersen Automotive Museum, the Type 64 arrived in LA on schedule.

Automuseum PROTOTYP Hamburg

“Big thanks to Schenker and especially to Ian. He looked after the Type 64 as if it was his baby – as a customer I cannot ask for more!”

The valuable freight was enthusiastically received there: “One of the most exciting aspects of opening a new exhibit is unloading the vehicles we have received from around the world, including the Type 64 Porsche from Stuttgart, Germany” – so it says on the museum’s Facebook page. And highly satisfied, the Petersen Automotive Museum also posts: “Which Porsche would you like delivered to you from Stuttgart?”

After 8 months on display at the Petersen Automotive Museum, the Automotive team started preparations for the next crucial steps of the Type 64 USA tour, starting with checking the mechanics of the Type 64, to the removal from the vault for securing and cleaning to the transport to the Rennsport Reunion VI at Laguna Seca Raceway 2018.

Porsche Rennsport Reunion VI is best described as Porsche car lover’s dream. During the 4- day public event, over 500 Porsche race Rennsport Reunion VI cars were crammed into Laguna Seca Raceway, with about 350 of those cars competing aggressively on the track. Type 64 was requested by Porsche to be at the priority location in the Chopard Heritage Display. Each vehicle in the collection was chosen for its contribution to Porsche’s racing successes, road car engineering and performance superiority. Inside the enormous Chopard Heritage Display, visitors had the chance to explore and relive history, to talk with many of the caretakers of the cars and meet with Chopard representatives who were there to showcase their timepieces.

Seventy invited Porsches, 10 from the Chopard Heritage Display and 10 from each historic race group, lined up on pit lane while fans anxiously were waiting behind the gates watching the orchestrated staging. When the cars were all lined up, the gates opened and fans flooded through toward pit lane to experience the rare experience of the normally closed area to stroll among the historic Porsches and mingle with their owners and drivers.

Coming home – Return to the Automuseum PROTOTYP

After 7 days at the Laguna Seca Raceway, it was time for the Type 64 to come home to Automuseum PROTOTYP Hamburg. A journey safely and securely executed by Ian Bennett and the Automotive Stuttgart team.

Now the ‘Berlin-Rome car’ has safely arrived at its home at Automuseum PROTOTYP Hamburg and is one of the highlights in the permanent exhibition like it was before its big journey across the pond.

Christian Rauch, Managing Director of the Zukunftsinstitut (Future Institute) based in Frankfurt, is working with his team on the megatrends of the future. In an interview with logistik aktuell, he explains the megatrend map and provides an insight into the changing mobility.

logistik aktuell: When we talk about the future, what exactly are we talking about?

Christian Rauch: There is no simple definition of the future. But there is a collective understanding of the future: everything that lies ahead is called the future. To put it a little philosophically, the future has always started somewhere. In other parts of the world, some things are already reality, which are hardly conceivable in this country or are only gradually gaining ground – and vice versa.

In the Zukunftsinstitut we usually look at medium to long-term periods – meaning between three and five years and between five and ten years. In addition, predictions become vague and out of focus. When we talk about the future around 2050, we usually describe the way and the development until then. But we are not to be confused with trend researchers, for example in the field of fashion. They think more seasonal and short term. That’s not our job.

As a future institute you developed the megatrend map. What exactly is that?

Working on efficient urban mobility, researchers take their cues from ants to develop mathematical routing algorithms.

logistik-aktuell.com

The megatrend map depicts a total of 12 key megatrends and identifies over 120 trend terms that are assigned to megatrends. At the same time, we want to use the overview map to show how the megatrends are related, where there are parallels and overlaps. We collect trends and zeitgeist phenomena and see what connects them. The development of the map is a collaborative process, involving the researchers of the Zukunftsinstitut and other experts, our study results as well as experiences from projects with clients – if you like, through collective intelligence. In the end, it’s about visualizing and translating the narrative.

One important megatrend is mobility. What do you mean by that?

When we talk about mobility, it’s not just about physical mobility. Mobility is to be seen in the sense of transport, traffic, but also as the basic motive of our society. For example, we consume and work in a mobile way. As a result, the so-called “third places” are becoming increasingly important. These are the places of transit, such as train stations and airports, where we experience networking through consumption, connectivity, internationality and globality. However, mobility is also what we consider on a global scale, for example transport logistics and tourism. It’s a megatrend that cannot be overlooked.

Christian Rauch

“Megatrends such as individualization, connectivity, urbanization and neo-ecology determine the mobility of tomorrow.”

In the Zukunftsinstitut, why do you no longer distinguish between city and country when it comes to mobility?

We notice this in our analyzes: The dichotomous distinction between city and country does not help us where we live. Where does the city, the province, the country start? We try to think in new categories. For example, we define the condensed spaces: inner-city locations, spatial densification, junctions – where consumption takes place, where the car does not have to be a central means of transportation. Linked spaces, on the other hand, are the connections between pre-urban areas and cities, which form regional catchment areas far beyond the immediate surroundings. To give just one last example, lined spaces are axes between cities that, thanks to fast, high – frequency connections, often represent daily commuter distances despite considerable distances, for example Cologne – Frankfurt, Wolfsburg – Berlin.
If you think about spatial structures, you must not only think about the problem of the “last mile”, but include different spatial structures.

As a Zukunftsinstitut, how do you advise companies and institutions on the future of mobility?

We tell companies that if they want to get their projects to the market, they have to have a look at the borderline. We need a new way of thinking, new network partners, an understanding that one must not think only in individual modes of transport. The municipal transport companies are also beginning to rethink, away from vascular solutions, towards an interface policy. Mayors are sometimes the bigger levers than federal politics or automobile companies. The users are in parts more advanced than we think: car sharing is perceived by the user as positive, cargobike and bicycle mobility are very well received in urban areas.

Autonomous driving is a trend that is repeatedly mentioned. What is the development here from the perspective of futurology?

We are already pretty close to breakthroughs in the market. That’s not surprising. For years we have had digital applications and tools that have led to greater autonomy in mobility. Cars now park themselves by parking aid, autonomous cruise control – much has reality become a reality. The idea that all cars drive autonomously, as they do in science fiction films – that is certainly not how it works.

Singapore and Hangzhou: Asian Smart Cities | logistik aktuell

logistik-aktuell.com

What are the challenges and visions in the field of autonomous driving?

So far, the exception situations are still the problem. Therefore, much more needs to be simulated. It will take a while before we will see autonomous vehicles on a larger scale. For businesses, there will certainly be faster application solutions (link), especially in rural areas, where we maintain a costly system in public transport. Smaller vehicles driving autonomously are a solution. But a broad application will certainly take another five to ten years.

In urban areas, in the context of electromobility, it will come to the point where vehicles drive independently to the charging stations. Free parking in the city center might not be allowed at all anymore. We have to think of many technical requirements, only then the picture of autonomous driving will become more concrete and realistic. For a long time, autonomous driving was almost exclusively about comfort, but much more exciting is the topic of increasing safety for road users.

“Christian Rauch from @zi_news (Future Institute) in an interview with DB #Schenker: “Away from vascular solutions, towards an interface policy“

Considering the current development, could we call it a revolution in mobility?

I think it will be more of an evolution of mobility. Things like electromobility and hydrogen propulsion have been in discussion for a long time. It feels radical right now, but we have to start thinking of new business models. City planners, for example, need to cooperate even more with the private sector. Consumers’ consumption patterns are not changing overnight. We have to take a smart approach.

What are the concrete tasks that the Zukunftsinstitut carries out for companies and organizations?

What we experience is that companies seek and get a lot of input.
We are neither the classic market researcher nor the typical business consultant. We try to work very profoundly with companies to provide strategic and intellectual assistance. We focus on the big picture. We realize there is an enormous need to understand change, to find new answers. For us, it’s not about setting the future, but about describing lines of development. Each company has to find its own answers.

Christina Kunze, Senior Project Manager – Digital Engineering, and Gerald Müller, DB Schenker’s Vice President Process and Efficiency, developed, in collaboration with the Fraunhofer Institute for Material Flow and Logistics, a special training course. It is digital game, that will complement DB Schenker’s employee training and, at the same time, bring more fun and success to the learning of packing and picking processes.

Right from the start, Leipzig was selected as a concrete field of application. There, DB Schenker stores for the customer BMW parts and delivers them to BMW plants worldwide. Since May 2018, the educational game for training in small packaging is used in Leipzig.

Gerald Müller was responsible for the general planning and organization of the new training concept at DB Schenker, Christina Kunze for the technical planning and implementation. We had the chance to talk to both.

Video on Virtual Reality and Serious Gaming at DB Schenker:

logistik aktuell: How did you come to develop a serious game for packaging?

Gerald Müller: We had planned to supplement the existing employee training with a new training concept. The challenge was to convey the sometimes complex procedures involved in the packing of BMW parts as sustainably as possible, even before employees started training in the real warehouse.

What were the trainings like so far?

Müller: At DB Schenker, the typical employee training sessions in the area of ​​warehousing consist of two parts: First, the employees get to know the process in a frontal presentation – with a video and / or lecture. Subsequently, they receive training on-the-job in a training center within the warehouse. However, the first part, meaning the video presentation, can be made much more interactive with modern tools. The general idea was that any learning content is easier to memorize when used interactively and with feedback. Watching an educational film, on the other hand, is very passive. So when we design the first part as a virtual and interactive training, the employees retain more learning content and are better prepared for specific situations in the warehouse. They ultimately need less training in the actual training center in the warehouse, because they have previously experienced and learned all the movements virtually on the computer.

Gerald Müller

“We were able to reduce the real on-the-job training in the training center from three to two days simply because the new employees already knew what to do.”

How would you describe the virtual training to an outsider?

Christina Kunze: We tried to map the workplace in Leipzig as realistically as possible on the PC. This includes, of course, the warehouse, but above all the packing station with its direct working environment including all tools, such as scanners, tape scrapers, safety knives, gloves and all packaging material. You can also see the corresponding SAP screen on the virtual monitor for each packing job. The participants learn with the help of the training game, in addition to the packaging activities, the handling of the SAP system relevant to them in Leipzig.

And did it work out? Are the new employees now better prepared for the real training situation through the previous virtual training?

Müller: Yes, certainly. The statistics for the training, which has been used in small packaging since May, clearly shows this. Here, we were able to shorten the real training-on-the-job in the training center from three to two days. Simply because the new employees already knew very well which tasks to carry out. Because of these positive experiences, we now want to successively transfer virtual training to other training situations. All jobs which are recurrent and which have to be carried out precisely are suitable for virtual training, that is to say all picking and packing, and also maintenance.

“NewWork at #DBSchenker: #SeriousGaming in #employee training and #VirtualReality walks through the #warehouse. “

But does not a participant of this virtual training course need training for the training in order to know what to do when suddenly standing at a virtual packing table?

Kunze: No, in principle, he needs no instruction, because the training starts simple and guides the user through the application in small steps. Also the control of the game is self-explanatory. But, of course, there is always an instructor in the room to provide support and assistance. All in all, there are six tutorial levels to master with the following topics: the game begins with getting to know the workplace and learning how to control the game. It goes on with order, cleanliness and ergonomics in the workplace, logging in and operating the SAP system, control and identification of the material. Then the actual packaging begins, whereby the packaging processes can be relatively complex and the instructions for this have to be implemented on the simulated PC over multi-page image sequences. In the last tutorial, the packing order in SAP is finally completed and the corresponding labels are printed out. In two different packing order quests, the employee can then apply, review and deepen their newly acquired knowledge.

Christina Kunze

“Overall, there are six tutorial levels to master. […] In two different packing order quests, the employee can then apply, review and deepen their newly acquired knowledge.”

Is it all done via VR equipment or on the computer monitor?

Kunze: In the current training session in Leipzig, it is still played in the traditional manner by PC monitor and mouse. But a VR version is currently in process and a tablet version is being planned.

Why do you not you use the VR version in Leipzig?

Müller: The idea was to design the first training pilot in Leipzig economically. For this reason, we chose a PC game version for which we already had hardware in sufficient number. With the success of this pilot, we now want to expand the already existing VR version of our packing game, which we previously used only for sales purposes, to the full VR training version. Our main task now is to optimize the controls and the gameplay so that the employees feel comfortable in the virtual world. This is absolutely essential for achieving the optimal training effects.

Educational game at DB Schenker: Comparing labels is one of them.

Kunze: What is easy for most people in a rather static training situation (eg working at a packing workplace), can be more difficult in dynamic training situations. Here is a concrete example from our everyday life VR: If you drive virtually with a forklift, but it really does not move, the situation can cause discomfort in sensitive people, comparable to seasickness. This phenomenon even has a name: VR sickness. But just as sailors get used to the swell, so do most people experience a habituation effect in VR. Just that most people haven’t had any VR experience yet. Our approach is to respond to this situation by designing mobile equipment, for example, a forklift simulator. New provider tests will give us more information on this.

June 7, 2017, was National Packaging Day in Germany, and DB Schenker used the opportunity to showcase its services in a very special way.

logistik-aktuell.com

Müller: As you can see, we have all kinds of innovative employee training in mind and can respond to the needs of our customers and design an optimal, cost-effective solution.

What do the employees think about the new training method and how do employees without PC knowledge manage?

Kunze: In the case of employees who until then had little or no PC experience, it is noticeable that they practice using PC and mouse in the virtual training and, thus, have considerably less fear to do something wrong during the subsequent real training, for example when dealing with the SAP system.

Müller: We generally receive positive feedback from the participants, because they are simply better prepared for the actual training center. It is easier there to complete the real training. We also get very positive feedback from the coaches, who notice a considerable improvement compared to the teaching material used before. This is further suggested by the average reduction of the training time from three to two days.

Thanks for the interview and this special insight into the Schenker Enterprise Lab.

What used to be known only about ghost ship stories could soon become reality on our rivers: autonomous ships carrying people and goods without a human captain on the bridge. Many in the industry go one step further and dream of ocean ships without crew.

That we will soon see the first autonomous cars, is commonly known. Ships, however, are less in the focus of the debate. Although obviously they, too, should get equipped with intelligence and autonomy. After all, they are slow and do not have to watch out for children playing on the side of the road. The Ministry of Transport probably sees this too and expects that the degree of automation in maritime transport will continue to increase (among other things, Norway is working intensively). The plan is now to identify areas in Germany where smart ships can be tested.

In its response to a request from the FDP parliamentary group, the Ministry of Transport notes that “urban areas with a branching waterway network such as Berlin, the Lower Elbe and large-scale ports” are particularly suitable for autonomous ships. However, when they will be on German waters, is currently still unclear. Relevant research is already underway, for example in the context of the Maritime Research Program. There, the potential of autonomous shipping is examined in individual projects. One example is “FernSAMS”: The Fraunhofer Center for Maritime Logistics and Services, together with the mechanical engineering company Voith and five other partners, is testing the “use of remote-controlled tractors for loading and unloading large ships”.

Norway is establishing testing sites for autonomous ships. Two companies are now planning to build the world's first electric-powered, self-sailing vessels.

logistik-aktuell.com

20 percent lower costs

The industry has ambitious plans. Optimists expect remote-controlled ships to be used on the open sea already in 2025. The necessary technologies already exist: The sensors are mature and commercially available. Also the algorithms for the “virtual captain” will soon be available. The owners’ hope: Autonomous ships are supposedly safer, more efficient and cheaper to build and operate. Up to 20 percent lower costs compared to conventional ships are being discussed.

Rolls Royce and the tugboat operator Svitzer gave a taste of the future last year: in Copenhagen they showed the first remote-controlled commercial ship, the 28 meter long tug “Svitzer Hermod”. The captain steered the vehicle from the Svitzer headquarters in the harbor. Among other things, almost three dozen monitors show him what is happening on the water, how well the ship’s systems are working and what the tractor’s radar and lidar sensors have detected.

“Lower costs and greater efficiency: these are the promises of using autonomous ships. Projects are running worldwide. Germany, too, wants to identify test areas.“

But there are not only enthusiasts on the topic of “autonomous ships”. Critics expect new costs for the autonomous ships: for example, who should repair damage on board? Do you need in this case a second drive system, which would cost a lot of money? Such questions are still open. But maybe real sailors will be replaced in the future by robots who tackle problems. After all, they don’t get tired and have only minimal requirements for their accommodation on the ship.